Monday, 29 May 2017

Harvest Monday and Eves Hill Veg Co

I've been growing peas in some tubs in my lean to at home (using last year's tomato compost). We had a few harvests of pea shoots from them, before I left them to grow on to produce some pods....

I had planned on letting the pods fatten up a bit more before picking them, but a couple of days after these pics I picked the lot - it was so hot in the lean-to that the plants were suffering and also I needed the tubs to plant out the last of my tomatoes (incidentally, I spotted an actual baby tomato today, on one of the two tumbler plants, ooh). So anyway, we enjoyed the fresh young peas raw, eating the crunchy pods n all.

I've also harvested a load more radishes from the allotment. They're starting to get a bit nibbled by something, but on the whole are still pretty good. I haven't spied any parsnips germinated though. There's loads of chickweed and poppies that've germinated in the row which might have affected the parsnips. So we may be a parsnip-free zone this year...still time for them to germinate if they decided to though.

We had a nice salad the other day....with some new season potatoes from the organic veg stall on the market. My early potatoes are just starting to flower so I might have a rootle around for some tubers in the next couple of weeks. (Only the radishes are homegrown in this pic I think, plus the homemade apple cider vinegar in the dressing).

Out at Eves Hill Veg Co community veggie farm (where I volunteer), the new polytunnel we put up in early spring is getting nice and full.

Two nice rows of tomatoes intercropped with lettuce. Kohl rabi in the nearest bed has been harvested on Thursday I think....not sure what's going in their place - maybe cucumbers or more tomatoes?

Outside in the hardening-off area, there are masses of trays looking lovely and healthy. Last week on the volunteer day the gang planted out a whole load of sweetcorn but there's still plenty more. I've been getting a bit anxious about the amount of plants waiting to go out in my garden and the allotment, but this is on an altogether different scale! The monthly open day was at the weekend, so I'm sure they got lots more done (in between rain storms).

Jan and I had an allotment session on Sunday morning (Saturday was very very windy so I hid indoors all day). Jan cut the paths, which was really helpful, and I planted out some of the squashes. I meant to go back down again over the long weekend but it didn't happen....though I did a bit of gardening at home. Ah, I just remembered that I lifted the rest of the garlic and left it there, planning on bringing it back later, oh well. I also noticed that the Autumn-sown broad beans are ready to be picked, so I must get them too. Plus all the other stuff that needs doing (put up bean wigwams, clear more ground for squashes and beans, sow beans, clearing around the overgrown edges of the plot...you get the idea). And there were a few strawberries nearly ripe that I forgot about too. Nevermind, there'll be more to come.

10 comments:

Your snow peas and radishes are so lovely. Spring is always so busy, loads to do but it sounds like you're getting a lot done. The weeds are popping up like mad, but it's too wet for me to hoe the garden this weekend.

Thanks Phuong. Yes there's a lot to do isn't there! We had heavy rain last night so everything will be a bit damp today (which is actually good as it had been very dry for quite a while). If the weather holds today I might try and get to the plot to do a slug-patrol as they'll have moved around in the rain.

We are starting to worry about the amount of stuff that needs planting out to as the weather hasn't become very helpful. I think I am going to have to sow some more parsnip seed as our parsnips seem very reluctant to germinate too as do the carrots and the broad beans.

Hi sue, yes, I'm gradually working my way through planting stuff out but there's still quite a bit to do too. I might give up on the parsnips for this year...if the originals germinate that'd be good, but I'm not going to sow any more. Broad beans have actually been really good, I'm harvesting the Autumn-sown ones now, and the spring sown ones are all in flower. Good luck with yours.

Those are lovely radishes and peas! I got some pea pods this morning but I'm still waiting on the radishes to size up. It seems like your to-do list is like mine this time of year. There always seems to be more chores than there is time to do them.

Your snow peas look so great! Mine are pretty much done now but they did give us a lot this season. They however never grew up the fence but just grabbed onto each other and eventually flopped over. I think I crowded them when planting. Learn something knew every year!

Hi Karrie, great that you got so many peas! Could you put in sticks/canes at either end of the row and run a bit of string along the outside of the row next time, it might stop the plants flopping over?

About Rainbow Chard

It was Easter 07 when we got our allotment - all writhing with brambles and couch grass a-plenty. From it's extremely overgrown state (it was vacant for at least five years) we've steadily tamed the wilderness into something more manageable. As we didn't capture the mess that it was in at the beginning, this is a way of recording what we've been up to recently, so we don't make the same mistakes! Lou does most of the work, with occasional help from Jan.